Shoe sole and method for manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a shoe sole and a manufacturing method for the same are disclosed. In order to enhance flexibility and smoothness of a shoe sole, there are provided a mid sole  10  that is disposed beneath an upper layer  12  of a shoe; one or multiple protrusions  20  that protrudes in a downward direction from a lower surface  11  of the midsole; an outsole  30  that includes an upper surface  31  attached to a lower surface  11  of the midsole and includes one or multiple holes  32  that is disposed in an inner side, the protrusion passing through the outsole piece  40 ; and one or multiple outsole pieces  40  that are attached to beneath each protrusion. With the above configuration, it is possible to effectively absorb the impact due to prompt deformation of the sole when a user walks along an uneven, protruded ground.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a shoe sole and a method formanufacturing the same, and in particular to a shoe sole and a methodfor manufacturing the same that make it possible to provide a sole withmore flexibility and smoothness in such a way that part of a slipprevention protrusion disposed on a bottom surface of a shoe issupported by a midsole, not integrated with an outsole.

BACKGROUND ART

Shoes such as sneakers, leisure shoes, mountain shoes, safety shoes,etc. are necessary items in modern human life. Such shoes aremanufactured in various forms on the basis of the purpose of use. Atypical shoe comprises a sole that disposed on a bottom of a shoe andsupports a foot bottom, and an upper layer that covers a foot from abovethe sole and protects it.

The sole consists of an outsole that directly contacts with the ground,and a midsole that is attached to the upper surface of the outsole andsupports a foot bottom. The outsole is generally made from a material alittle hard enough to decrease abrasion due to friction against theground, and the midsole is generally made from a material a littlesmooth enough to effectively absorb impact and to enhance a wearingfeeling. Some of the shoes are equipped with a slip prevention functionby providing protrusions on the bottom surface of the outsole.

Since the outsole of typical shoes is generally integrated with a hardmaterial, flexibility and smoothness are bad.

More specifically, when a user walks along a uneven, protruded groundlike along an unpaved road or a walkway in mountain, only part of thebottom surface of the outsole comes into contact with the protrudedportion, so the sole may be unbalanced or twisted. Since the outsoledisposed beneath the sole is made from a hard material, the entire solemay be promptly unbalanced or twisted in reaction to the contact withthe protruded ground, which results in prompt deformation. The impactdue to the prompt deformation is directly transferred to the ankle ofthe user, so the ankle becomes fatigue fast, and the ankle may besprained and injured, causing dangerous situation.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is made so as to improve the abovementioned problems. It is an object of the present invention to providea shoe sole and a method for manufacturing the same that make itpossible to enhance flexibility and smoothness of a shoe sole.

To achieve the above object, there is provided a shoe sole, comprising amid sole 10 that is disposed beneath an upper layer 12 of a shoe; one ormultiple protrusions 20 that protrudes in a downward direction from alower surface 11 of the midsole; an outsole 30 that includes an uppersurface 31 attached to a lower surface 11 of the midsole and includesone or multiple holes 32 that is disposed in an inner side, theprotrusion passing through the outsole piece 40; and one or multipleoutsole pieces 40 that are attached to beneath each protrusion.

More preferably, the midsole is smooth, and the outsole and the outsolepiece are hard, and the outsole piece is attached to the soft midsoleand is flexible without any help from the outsole.

The protrusions are provided on a heel portion of a midsole where mostfrequently contacts with the ground or are provided on a front portionof the midsole, so it is possible to exchange when the outsole piece isworn out or damaged.

There is further provided one or multiple outsole protrusions 34 thatprotrudes in a downward direction from the bottom surface 33 of theoutsole.

In addition, in order to enhance the flexibility and smoothness, theheight of the protrusion is made higher than the height of the hole, sowhen the midsole and the outsole are attached to each other, theprotrusions can protrude in a downward direction from the bottom surfaceof the outsole.

In addition, when the protrusion and the outsole price are provided inmultiple numbers, different marks 21 are marked on a lower surface ofeach protrusion, and different marks 41 are marked on an upper surfaceof each outsole piece for thereby differentiating the position of eachprotrusions.

To achieve the above objects, there is provided a method formanufacturing shoes of the present invention which comprises insertingand passing a protrusion protruding in a downward direction from a lowersurface of a midsole, through a hole formed in an inner portion of theoutsole; butting and attaching a lower surface of the midsole and anupper surface of the outsole; and attaching an outsole piece to beneaththe protrusion that has passed through the hole.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS

In the present invention, part of protrusions formed on a bottom surfaceof a shoe is attached to a midsole, not integrated with a hard outsole,so it can be flexible without any relation with an outsole, thusenhancing flexibility and smoothness of a shoe sole.

When a user walks along an uneven, protruded ground, the sole can becomeflexible, so it is possible to absorb any impact due to promptdeformation of a sole, thus protecting ankles from being sprained andinjured. The product of the present invention can reduce fatigue in thecourse of intense exercise or tracking or mounting climbing along withenhanced safety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a disassembled perspective view illustrating a shoe soleaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an assembling procedure of ashoe sole according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a state that an assembling ofa shoe sole is completed according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view illustrating a state that a shoe soleis disassembled, which is shown for better understanding.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view illustrating a state that a shoe soleis assembled, which is shown for better understanding.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The present invention may be implemented with various modifications. Thepreferred embodiments of the present invention will be describedhereinafter, which are not limited thereto. It is obvious that theconcepts and technical ranges of the present invention embrace commonmodifications or equivalents or substitutions.

FIG. 1 is a disassembled perspective view illustrating a shoe soleaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is aperspective view illustrating an assembling procedure of a shoe soleaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is aperspective view illustrating a state that an assembling of a shoe soleis completed according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the shoe sole according to the present inventioncomprises a midsole 10, a protrusion 20, an outsole 30 and an outsolepiece 40.

The midsole 10 is arranged beneath an upper layer 12 of a shoe and isgenerally made from a smoother material such as a foamed syntheticresin, etc. as compared with the outsole 10, so it has flexibility andsmoothness and a function of effectively absorbing impacts.

One or multiple protrusions 20 protrude in a downward direction from abottom surface 11 of the midsole 10. It is preferred that theprotrusions 20 are molded in the course of the formation of the midsole10, so the protrusions 20 can be integrated with the midsole 10.

The outsole 30 includes an upper surface 31 that is attached to a lowersurface 11 of the midsole 10 and is made from a harder synthetic resinas compared with the midsole 10. The outsole 30 is made from a materialthat has a strong abrasion prevention function because it directlycontacts with the ground and that has a slip prevention property.

A hole 32 is formed in a portion where matches with the protrusion 20 inthe midsole 10. As shown in FIG. 2, a protrusion 20 comes to passthrough the hole 32 when the midsole 10 and the outsole 20 are engagedeach other.

The outsole piece 40 is attached to beneath the protrusions 20 and maybe provided in one or multiple pieces. The outsole piece 40 is made froma material that has a strong abrasion prevention function and a slipprevention function in consideration of its direct contact with theground. The outsole piece 40 may be contoured in a lattice-shaped meshshape or a small protrusion shape on the bottom of the outsole piece 40.

The midsole 10 with the protrusions 20, the outsole 30 and the outsolepiece 40 are assembled in the following procedure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the midsole 10, the outsole 30 and the outsole piece40 are prepared. In a state of FIG. 2, the protrusions 20 protruding ina downward direction from the lower surface 11 of the midsole 10 isinserted in the hole 32 formed in the inner portion of the outsole 30.At this time, when the exterior of the protrusion 20 and the surroundingshape of the hole 32 are identically matched, the protrusion 20 come tofit the hole 32 like the puzzles fit. The lower surface 11 of the midsole 10 and the upper surface 21 of the outsole 30 are butted andattached. The lower surface 11 and the upper surface 21 are attachedusing an adhesive or are attached in a heating and melting way. Atypical attaching way of attaching the midsole and the outsole may beused; however such way is not limited thereto.

Next, the outsole piece 40 is attached to beneath the protrusion 20which is exposed from its bottom after it has passed through the hole asshown in FIG. 3. When the exterior of the outsole piece 40 and theexterior of the protrusion 20 are identically matched, the bottom of theprotrusion 20 is not exposed to the outside, and the outsole piece 40can fit the protrusion 20, thus enhancing attaching force and supportforce.

When the exterior of the protrusion 20 is atypical, and the protrusion20 is provided in multiple numbers, there may be a confusion inattaching the outsole pieces 40 to each corresponding protrusion 20, sothe protrusion with a different exterior may be attached to the outsolepiece, which leads to producing defective products or retardingmanufactures, thus deteriorating productivity.

On the lower surface of each protrusion 20, for example, anidentification mark 21 such as R1 to R9 may be marked by marking a mark“R” which means a right foot shoe, or a predetermined number for eachprotrusion 20. In addition, on the upper surface of each outsole piece40, for example, an identification mark 41 which is the same as theidentification mark 21 indicated on each protrusion 21 or which matcheswith such mark 21 may be marked.

In such a way, even when the outsole pieces 40 are scattered, a user canlocate the protrusion 20 with the matching identification mark 21 whileconfirming the identification mark 41 of the outsole piece 40 which israndomly selected, which consequently entails easier work.

In case that the protrusion 20 is provided in multiple numbers, they canbe installed at a heel portion of the midsole where most frequentlycontacts with the ground when the user walks or at a front portion ofthe midsole.

When a person walk, the heel portion first comes into contact with theground after the person lifts up his one foot from the ground, and thenthe entre portions of the foot bottom come into contact with the groundand then the front portion comes into contact with the ground. When theperson lifts up his foot from the ground, the heel portion of the footcomes to lift up from the ground, and then the front portion of the footstrongly kicks the ground, thus obtaining a forward walking force.

In consideration of the above mentioned walking types, since thecontacting force against the ground is highest at the heel portion andthe front portion of the foot, so the protrusions may be sectioned intoheel portion protrusions 20 a and front portion protrusions 20 b, forwhich the outsole pieces 40 may be sectioned into heel portion pieces 40a and front portion pieces 40 b.

In the present invention, the installation positions and number of theprotrusions 20 are not limited. They may be evenly formed over theentire portions of the lower surface 11 of the midsole 10 or they may beselectively formed on either the heel portions or the front portion.

According to the present invention, since the outsole pieces 40 areattached to the protrusions 20, when the outsole pieces 40 are damagedor worn out, the damaged outsole pieces 40 may be exchanged with newones on the bass of after sale services.

In addition, when the outsole pieces 40 are partly installed on thebottom surface 33 of the outsole 30, there may be further provided oneor more outsole protrusions 34 which protrude in a downward directionfrom the bottom surface 33 of the outsole 30 where the outsole pieces 40are not installed. In this case, the outsole pieces 34 and the outsolepieces 40 come to be evenly formed over the entire portions of thebottom surface 33 of the outsole 30.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view schematically illustrating a state thata shoe sole is disassembled, which is shown for better understanding ofthe present invention. FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view illustrating astate that a shoe sole is assembled, which is shown for betterunderstanding of the present invention, wherein different from theactual shape, each component is drawn with a straight line.

As shown in FIG. 4, in a state that the midsole 10, the outsole 30 andthe outsole pieces 40 a and 40 b are separate, the protrusion 20 of themid sole 10 is inserted in the hole 32 of the outsole 30, and theoutsole piece 40 is attached to beneath the protrusion 20. The abovedescribed procedures are based on the earlier described manufacturemethod for a shoe sole.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the outsole pieces 40 a and 40 b areattached to the smooth protrusion 20 and are supported by the same, soeach outsole piece 40 a, 40 b remains separated from the hard outsole 30and has an independent cushioning function. For example, in case thatthe heel portion piece 40 a comes into contact with a protruded portionof the ground, the heel portion piece 40 a absorbs and attenuates theimpacts independently without any help from the outsole 30, and on thecontrary, when the front portion piece 40 b comes into contact with aprotruded portion of the ground, the front portion piece 40 b absorbsand attenuates the impacts independently without any help from theoutsole 30, as a result of which the flexibility and smoothness of theshoe sole can be greatly enhanced.

When the height of the protrusion 20 is lower than the height of thehole 32, the side surface of the outsole piece 40 comes into contactwith an inner wall surface of the hole 32, so there may occurinterference between the materials of the outsole (more specifically,between the outsole and the outsole piece), and the flexibility of theoutsole piece 40 is restricted, which makes undesired results.

Therefore, as shown in the drawings, in order to enhance the flexibilityand smoothness of the shoe sole, in the present invention, the height ofthe protrusion 20 is made higher than the height of the hole 32. Whenthe mid sole 10 and the outsole 30 are attached to each other. When theprotrusion 20 protrudes in a downward direction from the bottom surface33 of the outsole 30, the outsole piece 40 becomes completely separatedfrom the outsole 30, so the flexibility is not restricted.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described examples are notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of theclaims, or equivalences of such meets and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

Legend of Reference Numbers 10: mid sole 11: bottom surface 12: upperlayer 20: protrusion 20a: heel portion protrusion 20b: front portionprotrusion 21: mark 30: outsole 31: upper surface 32: hole 33: bottomsurface 34: outsole protrusion 40: outsole piece 40a: heel portion piece40b: front portion piece 41: mark

1. A shoe sole, comprising: a mid sole 10 that is disposed beneath anupper layer 12 of a shoe; one or multiple protrusions 20 that protrudesin a downward direction from a lower surface 11 of the midsole; anoutsole 30 that includes an upper surface 31 attached to a lower surface11 of the midsole and includes one or multiple holes 32 that is disposedin an inner side, the protrusion passing through the outsole piece 40;and one or multiple outsole pieces 40 that are attached to beneath eachprotrusion, wherein the height of the protrusion 20 is higher than theheight of the hole 32, and when the midsole 10 and the outsole 30 areattached to each other, the protrusion 20 protrudes in a downwarddirection from a bottom surface of the outsole 30, and wherein themidsole is smooth, and the outsole and the outsole piece are hard, andthe outsole piece is attached to the soft midsole and is flexiblewithout any help from the outsole.
 2. The sole of claim 1, wherein theprotrusion is formed at a heel portion of the midsole to support theheel portion of the foot bottom.
 3. The sole of claim 1, wherein theprotrusion is formed at a front portion of the midsole to support afront portion of the foot bottom.
 4. The sole of claim 1, furthercomprising: one or multiple outsole protrusions 34 that protrudes in adownward direction from the bottom surface 33 of the outsole.
 5. Thesole of claim 1, wherein when the protrusion and the outsole price areprovided in multiple numbers, different marks 21 are marked on a lowersurface of each protrusion, and different marks 41 are marked on anupper surface of each outsole piece for thereby differentiating theposition of each protrusions.